Delays, delays, nothing but delays...
With the FCC once again suspending its regulatory review process, Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) once more pushed back its expected close of its proposed $45.2 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC).
"Given the FCC's recent decision to pause the shot clock, we have recently reassessed the time frame when we expect the government's regulatory review to be completed and now expect that the review should be concluded in the middle of the year," Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen said in a blog post.
The FCC has paused its review process for Comcast-TWC, as well as AT&T's (NYSE: T) proposed $49 billion takeover of DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV), to account for litigation concerning the disclosure of pay-TV content licensing agreements related to the deals.
Programmers are resisting the public disclosure of their licensing agreements with the four major pay-TV operators, and the matter is currently being considered in a Washington, D.C., federal court.
In the meantime, 13 months after it was originally proposed, Comcast is still waiting to hear from the FCC and the Justice Department as to whether it can go ahead with its purchase.
For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal story (sub. req.)
- read this Reuters story
Related links:
Comcast-TWC, AT&T-DirecTV merger reviews halted by FCC
Comcast says opposition-coalition white paper full of inaccuracies
Comcast-TWC merger 'no longer inevitable,' declares L.A. Times
As Comcast-TWC merger shot clock restarts, opposition forces further coalesce